The Betrayal of the Blood Lily, by Lauren Willig (Pink Carnation #6)

Here are links to my reviews of some of the previous books in the Pink Carnation series:
The Secret History of the Pink Carnation (book #1)
The Seduction of the Crimson Rose (book #4)
The Temptation of the Night Jasmine (book #5)

The Betrayal of the Blood Lily is another in the Pink Carnation series, which combines modern romance with historical fiction, 18th century espionage, and good old-fashioned romance. In Blood Lily we are reunited with the impulsive and impossible Penelope who has just arrived in India with her new husband, Lord Frederick Staines. Freddie was sent to investigate a British officer in India, and the new couple undergoes numerous adventures on the way. Traveling as their guide in India is Captain Alex Reid, who is more than surprised to discover Penelope isn't the woman he expected her to be.

Overall Review:
This was the most satisfying of all the Pink Carnation novels. The modern story was good because the slow pace was actually okay for once. Eloise and Colin are finally together so the fact that their story would have lost a race against a snail didn't bother me. It was sweet to see their day to day lives as a couple. The historical romance in Blood Lily was satisfying and a lot edgier than the previous books, which made me enjoy it all the more. The other books were all pretty similar, but this one was jarringly different in a wonderful way.

Reading and Plot Speed:
This book, like all the others, was an easy and fast read. And once you reach the exciting parts, you are forced to finish it in one sitting.

Characters:
All the reviews I read about Blood Lily before reading it claimed that Penelope is the best of the heroines in the Pink Carnation series. I was inclined to disagree at the time because I thought her annoying and selfish in previous books. I remembered her as that girl who was friends with Hen and Charlotte and would constantly be putting them down while waiting for them to help her out of whatever heap of trouble she had just gotten into. However, once I started Blood Lily I grew to love Penelope more than any of the rest because she was the first one with not only brain or guts, but both. Another thing I liked a lot was how Alex was of a lower station than Penelope. In all the previous books the girls would marry up, but here Penelope is willing to let go of her extravagant lifestyle as Lady Staines and live life with the man she loves. Alex was a perfect match for Penelope because he completely balanced out Penelope's extreme personality.

Random Thoughts:
My biggest problem with the previous books was how they made sometimes fatal espionage seem fun and harmless. Blood Lily was a little darker and edgier than the others so it did add a bit more genuine historical flavor, but was still a little too fluffy.

5 stars.

The heroines of Lauren Willig's bestselling Pink Carnation series have engaged in espionage all over nineteenth-century Europe. In the sixth stand-alone volume, our fair English heroine travels to India, where she finds freedom—and risk—more exciting than she ever imagined.

Everyone warned Miss Penelope Deveraux that her unruly behavior would land her in disgrace someday. She never imagined she's be whisked off to India to give the scandal of her hasty marriage time to die down. As Lady Frederick Staines waits, Penelope plunges into the treacherous waters of the court of the Nizam of Hyderabad, where no one is quite what they seem—even her husband. In a strange country, where elaborate court dress masks even more elaborate intrigues and a dangerous spy called the Marigold leaves venomous cobras as his calling card, there is only one person Penelope can trust...

Captain Alex Reid has better things to do than play nursemaid to a pair of aristocrats. Or so he thinks—until Lady Frederick Staines out-shoots, out-rides, and out-swims every man in the camp. She also has an uncanny ability to draw out the deadly plans of the Marigold and put herself in harm's way. With danger looming from local warlords, treacherous court officials, and French spies, Alex realizes that an alliance with Lady Staines just might be the only thing standing in the way of a plot designed to rock the very foundations of the British Empire...

The Sleeping Beauty, by Mercedes Lackey (Five Hundred Kingdoms #5)

To read my review of The Snow Queen (Five Hundred Kingdoms #4), click here.

Rosamund is a princess in the center of several fairy tales, and she is determined to make the most of them. She is kidnapped, put in a coma, woken up, and orphaned, and Rosamund is determined to control her own destiny. When Rosamund and her fairy godmother/evil stepmother, Lily, feel the Tradition closing in, this unlikely duo teams up to make sure Rosamund and her kingdom get their happy endings.

Thoughts immediately after reading:
OMG BEST 500 KINGDOMS BOOK EVER!!!!!! After thinking about it for a few minutes, I realized that I had this reaction after reading most of the others, so what I'm telling you is that this book is amazing and didn't ruin the books that came before it.

Reading speed:
Slow. I tend to speed through the books I really enjoy but I couldn't speed through this one. I don't know what it was about this, but the words needed a little more processing time. Despite this, I had a hard time putting this book down, which was why it took me over a week to finish.

Characters:
This is going to sound really petty, but my main comments on the characters in this novel are on their names. Siegfried, Leopold, and Desmond are a little too....I don't know the right word but they aren't names I particularly like. None of those names excite anything but snickers in me for some odd reason. Siegfried and Leopold are very old-fashioned and although the book takes place in a time of knights and princesses, it does have a modern feel to it and those names just didn't belong. I did love the name Sable, but sable is a carnivorous weasel and is supposed to have a negative connotation.

My Favorite Character:
Luna the unicorn! Or as I think of her, the Lunicorn! I love her cuteness and awesomeness and I want a unicorn. I also want to be a godmother. Basically, I want to live in the 500 Kingdoms.

Supernatural elements:
For anyone who hasn't caught on yet, the 500 Kingdoms books take place in a world where fairy tales repeatedly come to life, just not necessarily with happy endings. There are no vampires or werewolves, but there are princesses and unicorns which are way better.

Romance:
The romance in this book was scattered but satisfying. It wasn't the focus of the book but it did add a little flair. What was fun about the romance in this book was the doubt over who Rosamund would end up with. Sorry, that was incorrect-it was completely obvious who she would end up with, but I pretended like I didn't know and enjoyed every second of them falling for each other.

Ending:
Don't worry-no spoilers here. All I'm going to say is that it was a cute and satisfying ending and everyone got their just desserts.

Unsolved mysteries:
What was up with that bird? I was disappointed when no information was given about her except that she's a "wise beast." She played such an important role that a name or an explanation would have been fitting. Since she didn't have either she felt more like a crystal ball than a character.

5 stars

 
Heavy is the head--and the eyelids--of the princess who wears the crown...In Rosamund's realm, happiness hinges on a few simple beliefs:For every princess there's a prince.

The king has ultimate power.

Stepmothers should never be trusted.

And bad things come to those who break with Tradition....

But when Rosa is pursued by a murderous huntsman and then captured by dwarves, her beliefs go up in smoke. Determined to escape and save her kingdom from imminent invasion, she agrees to become the guinea pig in one of her stepmother's risky incantations--thus falling into a deep, deep sleep.

When awakened by a touchy-feely stranger, Rosa must choose between Tradition and her future...between a host of eligible princes and a handsome, fair-haired outsider. And learn the difference between being a princess and ruling as a queen.

The moral of the story? Sometimes a princess has to create her own happy endings....

Raised By Wolves, by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

Bryn was only four when her parents were killed by a rogue werewolf and she was taken in by the werewolves who rescued her. She has lived with the pack for 11 years as one of their own, but when Bryn discovers a boy locked up in chains in the basement of the pack's alpha, everything starts to change. Chase was bitten by a rogue werewolf and Bryn is convinced that he holds the answers to the mysteries of her parents' deaths. Working together with Chase, Bryn goes on a mission to make sure the rogue wolf who killed her parents and tried to kill Chase will never harm a hair on her head. (Or huff and puff and blow her house down.)

In all of Jennifer Lynn Barnes' books that I've read there's been a headstrong, no-nonsense heroine and Bryn fit that description perfectly. Bryn is mischievous and self-assured and it was a pleasure to read the book from her point of view. She had enough personality that I could picture her as I read but I was still able to put myself in her place. Bryn wasn't one of those narrators who describes herself and doesn't live up to the description; she is who she says she is plus so much more.

I don't know why but I loved this book. I think werewolves may be my favorite supernaturals to read about, and this book did not disappoint on that front. Raised by Wolves was innocent enough for younger readers but it wasn't immature or ignorant as many other books are. All in all, I couldn't put it down and I recommend it to anyone looking for a satisfying read.

4.9 stars

 
Adopted by the Alpha of a werewolf pack after a rogue wolf brutally killed her parents right before her eyes, fifteen-year-old Bryn knows only pack life, and the rigid social hierarchy that controls it.  That doesn't mean that she's averse to breaking a rule or two. 

But when her curiosity gets the better of her and she discovers Chase, a new teen locked in a cage in her guardian's basement, and witnesses him turn into a wolf before her eyes, the horrific memories of her parents' murders return. Bryn becomes obsessed with getting her questions answered, and Chase is the only one who can provide the information she needs.

But in her drive to find the truth, will Bryn push too far beyond the constraints of the pack, forcing her to leave behind her friends, her family, and the identity that she's shaped?

Juliet Immortal, by Stacey Jay

The story of Romeo and Juliet was not one of tragic young love, but rather one of murder and betrayal. In order to become immortal, Romeo Montague killed his beloved Juliet. Romeo was promised eternal life lived in the bodies of others while spreading evil around the world and getting other young lovers to do as he did, but he never expected that Juliet would be given eternal life as well and that the two would become sworn enemies. The culmination of hundreds of years of fighting has arrived and Juliet finds herself in the body of a quiet and damaged teenager named Ariel. Juliet knows her mission and is determined to complete it and destroy Romeo once and for all, but everything changes once she meets Ben. Stuck in a body not her own, Juliet is faced with choices no girl would ever dream of making.

I was very excited to find this book because clever retellings and modern takes of classic tales appeal to me more than totally original books because they don't hide their origins. There's no such thing as a book that is completely from the author's mind and in retellings the author is telling you before you even pick up the book that the story inside is based on another. This challenges the author to come up with plot twists that both keep the story in line with the original while changing it entirely. Juliet Immortal was not quite a retelling but more of a story based on the characters Shakespeare introduced us to. Juliet makes it clear that Shakespeare's play was based on hers and Romeo's story but less about the lovers dying for immortality and more about the lovers dying for the sake of love (which in itself is stupid but I probably shouldn't go there now).

This book was really good, but at some point I was wondering how the author would resolve the many different problems with one solution. There was no visible solution in place so I wasn't surprised when the author invented new laws in her universe to give everyone who deserved it a happy ending. It was somewhat of a cop-out though and it required lots of imagination (and rereading if you want to understand it). When I closed Juliet Immortal after the last page I was thoroughly satisfied and confused, which is a very interesting blend of emotions to have after finishing a book.

4.8 stars.

 
The most tragic love story in history . . .

Juliet Capulet didn't take her own life. She was murdered by the person she trusted most, her new husband, Romeo Montague, a sacrifice made to ensure his own immortality. But what Romeo didn't anticipate was that Juliet would be granted eternity, as well, and would become an agent for the Ambassadors of Light. For 700 years, she's fought Romeo for the souls of true lovers, struggling to preserve romantic love and the lives of the innocent. Until the day she meets someone she's forbidden to love, and Romeo, oh Romeo, will do everything in his power to destroy that love.